“The Grant Will Be Disbursed Partially”

 Aliou Abdoullahi, National Coordinator, European Development Fund National Authorising Unit.

What does the recent European Union grant to Cameroon entail?

The cooperation between Cameroon and the European Union is within a kind of financial protocol – National Indicative Programme (NIP). The NIP is for six years, from 2014 to 2020 and for an amount of 280 million euro (approximately FCFA 184 billion). Within this NIP, there are two kinds of modalities for implementing this financing agreement. We have the project approach that was used before and now we are trying to switch to budget support approach. Budget support approach means that the amount that is financed by the EU is given directly to the national budget in order to support national policies. The recent one we signed concerns rural development and finance reforms. The government already has projects to support rural development and public finance reforms. Instead of paying from the national budget, the cost will be borne by the funds from the EU.
In which particular sector will the EU grant be pumped into?

The NIP has two sectors of concentration: rural development and governance. The over  FCFA 63 billion given is aimed to partially finance rural development in terms of development of seeds and  farm-to-market roads. It will run for three years; 2017 to 2019.

What will be the fate of EU’s intervention in this sector bey...